Madame Butterfly

Our costume department is making a brand new wardrobe for this year’s production of Puccini’s masterpiece, Madame Butterfly. Witnessing the process, from start to finish, has been dazzling. So, I thought I would share some of the steps that it takes to create a kimono from scratch….

Madame Butterfly began her life as a short story, published in 1898, by the American John Luther Long Two years later, he joined forces with the playwright/producer David Belasco; Butterfly was reborn as a one-act play. In 1904 Giacomo Puccini’s operatic version was whistled off…

Ancestors played a very important part in traditional Japanese society, and it was hoped Descendants would too. Madama Butterfly brings her ottokè to her new life and tells Pinkerton (who considers them mere puppets) they are the souls of her ancestors. The Registrar, leaving the…